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Floating Island
Mrs. E. E. Marcy.
One-half package gelatine, one pint of water; soak twenty minutes; add two cups of sugar; set it on the stove to come to a boil; when nearly cold, add the whites of four eggs beaten stiff, the juice and rind of two lemons, and pour into a mould; turn over the form. Make a custard of the yolks of four eggs, a quart of milk, and a small tablespoonful of corn starch; sweeten to taste.
This is a gelatine snow pudding served in a pool of stirred custard — the "island" is the moulded white jelly, the "sea" is the thin yolk custard. Two things decide whether it works: the gelatine quantity and keeping the custard below a simmer.
- Half a package of gelatineNineteenth-century boxes of granulated gelatine were commonly about an ounce, so half a package is roughly 1/2 oz, or two modern 1/4 oz envelopes (about 14 g). That is right for setting a pint of liquid lightened with four egg whites. Package sizes varied by brand, so treat this as an estimate rather than a fixed conversion.
- Soak, then dissolveSprinkle the gelatine over the pint of cold water and leave it twenty minutes to swell before any heat touches it. Bringing it "to a boil" with the sugar is more vigorous than needed; heating just until the granules and sugar have completely dissolved gives a cleaner set.
- The timing hinge"When nearly cold" means syrupy and beginning to thicken at the edges — not set. Fold the stiff whites in too early and they melt into liquid; too late and you get streaks of rubbery jelly through the foam. Whisk the whole mixture briskly once combined so it turns opaque and holds its volume.
- Raw whitesThe whites are never cooked in this dessert. Pasteurised egg whites, sold in cartons, whip perfectly well here and remove the only real concern, particularly if the pudding is going to anyone very young, elderly or pregnant.
- Two cups of sugarThat is a great deal of sugar for a pint of water, and it also stiffens the set. A cup to a cup and a half gives a dessert most modern palates prefer, and remember the custard is sweetened separately.
- "Turn over the form"This simply means unmould it. Rinse the mould with cold water before filling, chill at least four hours or overnight, then dip the mould briefly in warm water and invert onto a shallow dish so the custard can be poured around the base.
- The custardFour yolks, a quart of milk and a tablespoon of cornstarch make a thin pouring custard, not a set one. Cook it in a double boiler or over low heat, stirring constantly, until it coats a spoon -- about 175F. The cornstarch gives the yolks some protection, but hard boiling or uneven heat will still scramble them and can leave the texture pasty.
- LemonGrate the rind before juicing, and use only the yellow zest. Add both juice and rind to the cooled gelatine rather than the hot syrup, which drives off the volatile oils that carry the flavour.
- YieldEnough for eight, in shallow bowls with the custard ladled around each portion.
Floating island is often traced to France, to île flottante and œufs à la neige, poached or baked meringue set adrift on a thin vanilla custard, though English recipes under the name appear from the mid-eighteenth century, sometimes with islands of whipped cream or syllabub floating on wine rather than meringue on custard, so the line of descent is not settled. What is striking about Mrs. Marcy's version is that the island is not meringue at all but a lemon gelatine sponge — a substitution made possible by the commercial granulated gelatine that reached American grocers in quantity over the course of the nineteenth century and freed cooks from boiling down calves' feet. The Home Cook Book, compiled in Chicago in 1874, with later editions following, and sold to raise money for the Home for the Friendless, is one of the earliest and most widely copied American community cookbooks, and its habit of printing each contributor's name above her receipt is exactly why we still have Mrs. E. E. Marcy's proportions.